Groupon: Google, you can’t have everything

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Groupon rejects Google takeoverSo the latest buzz is, of course, all about the two big G’s: Groupon vs. Google.

It’s a battle for the new business age. An interesting duel that has no doubt left Google with a bitter taste in its mouth after Groupon’s rumored rejection of the search monster’s $6 billion bid.

Take a second to think about what I just said – Just two years into existence, this rookie online local marketing phenom has built an empire that Google (which pretty much runs the world at this point) is willing to offer $6 billion to own. Which means that the nice people at Google probably think Groupon is worth even more than that – or at least to them it would be.

They may still publicly be going through negotiations, but we think the subtext sounds a lot more like this…

Groupon: Na na nana na! No deal!

Google: Well sh*t!!

Continue reading →

Google Editions: Coming Soon?

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Google may soon be testing the waters in digital publishing with their bookstore Google Editions.  Some expected the bookstore to hit the ground running during the summer months but Google had some fine tuning to do.  They didn’t want to release this new sector of the company without having everything thoroughly planned out.  Many believe they have a tough battle ahead of them with Apple and Amazon owning a great deal of the market share in the field.

Google Editions does come with a twist Continue reading →

Ctrus, Soccer’s New Smart Ball

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The newly designed smart soccer ball, Ctrus, took home this year’s Red Dot concept award.  Designed by the Mexican studio, Agent, the concept was created to reduce referee errors, which have been a problem for years in the sport, as well as providing fans and team managers a new perspective.

Ctrus, has the ability to Continue reading →

A World of Tweets

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Have you ever wondered how many people were tweeting right this very second? What about now? Frog Design recently launched a site showing Twitter activity all over the world. Seems like it would be pretty busy huh?

Their new site shows the activity with a heat map based on activity all over the world. As you watch the map over a course of several minutes you can see the hot spots for twitter. It seems that the US, Europe, and Indonesia are clearly the tweet addicts. The site also shows statistics Continue reading →

What cool things can HTML5 do?

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wilderness downtown html 5Arcade Fire, an indie rock band based out of Canada, teamed up with Google to create an interactive music video online for their song “We Used to Wait.”  The video titled “The Wilderness Downtown” is a new idea which has spawned a few similar interactive videos from other musicians as it appears Arcade Fire may have started a new trend.  The video displays some of the capabilities of HTML5 as well as Google’s web browser Chrome.

Before the video begins you are asked to enter your address of the home where you grew up and after doing this the video will begin.  Multiple windows will popup and they are all used in the interactive video as it takes you through images of your old home to recreate the experience of your childhood.  Multiple images and video run without skipping a beat as you experience the video.  At the end of the video you will get to create a postcard writing to your younger-self with the idea of giving yourself advice already knowing what you will have gone through.

Arcade Fire plans to use the postcards in several different ways to keep their fans engaged as they tour across North America.  After watching this video I had to try several different addresses just to see how cool it really was.  Is this the new age of music videos? What do you think?

Conan’s back: and surfing the social wave

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i'm with coco, conan o'brienMost of you know the story about Conan and how he was kicked off The Tonight Show only months after he became the host.  What you may or may not know is the new Conan.  He will be hosting his own show on TBS starting in early November, but he has already captivated an audience of millions before his show has hit their airwaves.  From viral marketing videos to his own blimp he has caught the attention of many and his most recent stunt may be the biggest of them all.

The Live Coco Cam was up and running for 24 consecutive hours last Monday and Tuesday.  The webcam was placed in the corner of a stairwell at their office to give viewers a “behind-the-scenes” experience.   Whether it was the dancing taco or the binge eating contest or any other random skit performed by the interns at the office, it sure was an experience.  The best part was that users were able to post comments on the site and staff members would read them and come onto the webcam and answer certain ones.  It really became an experience for everyone involved.

Before Conan was kicked off The Tonight Show he did little to interact and engage with his fans online.  But now he has a Facebook page and a Twitter account which has only added fuel to his fire.  He has taken his marketing efforts to a whole new level and with over 1.75 million followers on Twitter, people are listening.

World’s most awesomely bad Halloween costumes

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worst halloween costume

Alright, so I’m sure we’ve all seen our share of amazingly unabashed people sporting some pretty horribly awesome costumes this time of year. But today we found the motherload. I am honored and excited to introduce you to… WTFcostumes.com.

This site will literally offer you hours of entertainment. The best thing since PeopleOfWalmart.com! It’s a compilation of the most ridiculous Halloween costumes people have come up with. The greatest part is that many, if not most of them are very much homemade costumes.

Be warned, though, some are a bit disturbing – other just way out of control. Seriously, who sits around and comes up with these costume ideas? We thank you!

Our prediction for the hottest costume this year……. Old Spice Guy!

Who do you think you’ll see most often this Halloween night??

Google Instant “shields us” with pre-emptive censoring

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google instant, baby on computerNow don’t get offended!

That’s what Google is trying to prevent from happening with Google Instant. It’s an understandable concern – who wants to be bombarded with, let’s say “work-inappropriate” images and content accidentally when you’re searching for something much less scandalous? That could be embarrassing.

It all works based on algorithms of the billion+ Google searches people do every day. They go through these searches and figure out if the results seem pornographic, violent or hateful. If they do, then voila – the search term is blacklisted from instant search.

And of course, just because certain search terms are banned from Google Instant doesn’t mean you can’t pull them up on a regular search query. You’re going to have to go through the hard work of hitting the ENTER key, just like in the old days. Google just refuses to read your mind and suggest a term that has been deemed naughty.

Here’s the full list of search terms banned from Google Instant.

It’s a fine line that Google is treading right here – a line between freedom of speech and information, and protecting us (or, as Google reps say, it’s meant to safeguard children) from the obscene. Any kind of censorship is always controversial. Google Instant has brought us a new realm of controversy.

What do you think? Should Google Instant keep adding to the black list, or should they mind their own business?

Habits I’ve stolen from highly successful people

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leadership poster

Yesterday was a mini blast from my past.

My old communications professors invited me to come back to university and speak to the freshman class of Business Communication majors – an enthusiastic but somewhat shy group of bright eyed and bushy-tailed kids just entering the rite of passage that I just (finally!) completed.

With 40 attentive faces staring up at me from desks in a large classroom, scene complete with old-school blackboard to my back, I had the stage.

I was looking at a new, fresh class of upcoming communicators. Although they’re only a bunch of 17 or 18-year-olds right now, pretty soon they’ll be the interns interns and new hires sitting next to us in this office.

So what wise words of wisdom did I impart?

I summed up the whole surviving college and landing a job experience into four tips. And while I think they’re great personal mantras for getting you through secondary education and into the job force, they apply to what we do every day in the creative field. Here’s the cliff notes of my prepared-the-morning-of (procrastinate much?) speech: Continue reading →